Best client management software in 2024

What is a client management system?

A client management system is a specialized software designed to streamline and enhance the way businesses manage their interactions and relationships with clients or customers. It serves as a database where all client-related information, including contact details, communication history, purchase history, and preferences, is stored and organized. This system provides businesses with a comprehensive view of their clients, facilitating more informed decision-making and personalized client engagement.

A client management system offers a range of tools and features to support various aspects of client engagement. It enables businesses to track and log client communications, schedule appointments and follow-ups, manage sales pipelines, and generate reports for data-driven insights. The system's primary objective is to store client information, identify the top clients, improve client satisfaction, boost retention rates, and drive business growth by optimizing client interactions and tailoring the services or products to meet their specific needs. In essence, a client management system is an invaluable tool for businesses looking to build and maintain strong, long-lasting relationships with their clients while efficiently managing the associated data and processes.

Use cases of client management software

Whether you are a small business or an enterprise, your goal is to expand and win more clients. While you need new customers, existing clients are the greatest asset of any company. They already know you, trust you, are in business with you, and contribute to your revenue. Gartner estimates that 80% of a company’s future revenue will come from 20% of its existing customers. This makes every client an integral part of your company, and it is crucial to understand, nurture, and build a good relationship with them to gain their loyalty. 

Knowing how to nurture that relationship requires in-depth knowledge about their requirements and every interaction they’ve had with your business. But this information is spread across tools—spreadsheets, phone, email, notes, calendars, etc. 

As you get more customers, organizing and managing reliable information and having instant access to it becomes a struggle.

You’d require a tool that can show the complete details about clients with context, and communication history, and keep you updated about appointments, notes, and insights. That’s what client management software does.

Benefits of using a client management system

• Organized Information With your client information organized in a straightforward and customizable manner, you can easily keep track of and access everything you need to be more efficient.

• Better collaboration The tool acts as a single source of truth for the marketing and sales teams. No information gaps and no going back and forth. The customer always hears a consistent voice from you.

• Higher conversion  With a well-rounded view of your customers at all times, you can cross-sell and up-sell at the right moments, with higher success rates.

What to look for in client management software

When choosing client management software for your business, it’s important to make sure it aligns with your company’s goals and requirements. Although every company has different needs, there are a few key things to look for in client management software, including

• Features: Look for contact management, multi-channel engagement, cross-team collaboration, , process automation, calendar integration, and reporting/analytics.

• Customization and Scalability: Ensure it's customizable to fit your processes and scalable for growth.

• Integration: Check compatibility with your existing tools and API access for workflows.

• Automation: Ensure repetitive sales activities like sending a welcome email, assigning a sales owner or scheduling a meeting can be automated

• New-age capabilities - Power of GenAI to empower sales with building conversations with clients and ML alogrithms that provide rich insights on the next steps and revenue forecasting.

• User-Friendly: Seek an intuitive interface and mobile accessibility.

• Security and Compliance: Prioritize data security and compliance with relevant regulations.

• Support and Training: Evaluate customer support and available training resources.

• Pricing: Understand the pricing structure and consider free trials for testing suitability.

Best 8 client management software on the market

1. Freshsales

Freshsales is a comprehensive, user-friendly client management system designed to help businesses optimize and drive higher revenue through their client management processes. Developed by Freshworks, it offers a range of modern and powerful features to organize client information better, collaborate better, close deals faster, and scale the business stronger. Freshsales powered by Freddy AI provides businesses with conversational assistance, rich sales insights, and robust automation.

One of the standout features of Freshsales is its unified lead management capabilities. It allows businesses to capture leads from various sources, qualify them, and seamlessly convert them into clients. The system offers customizable pipelines, deal insights reporting tools, enabling teams to track opportunities, forecast revenue, and identify areas for improvement. Freshsales also offers in-built telephony and marketing automation to engage and convert clients faster.

Pros

• User-friendly interface

• Unified lead management

• Seamless integration with other Freshworks tools and third-party apps

Cons

• Advanced features are not available on mobile version

• The free version doesn’t have all the functions however, the paid version has many features to ensure you get plenty of value. 

Pricing

• Free: Up to 3 users

• Growth: $9/user/month (when billed annually)

• Pro: $39/user/month (when billed annually)

• Enterprise: $59/user/month (when billed annually)

2. HoneyBook

HoneyBook is a client management system created primarily for creative professionals and small businesses in fields like photography, event planning, and design. It offers a suite of tools designed to simplify client interactions and business operations. At its core, HoneyBook provides a platform for managing client inquiries, bookings, contracts, invoices, and payments. This makes it exceptionally convenient for creative professionals who often juggle multiple aspects of their business simultaneously.

HoneyBook is known for its ease of use and customizable templates. It allows users to create branded proposals, contracts, and invoices effortlessly, saving time and ensuring a professional image. Additionally, the platform supports online payments, making it easier for clients to pay invoices and improving cash flow for businesses. HoneyBook also offers features for automating follow-ups, task management, and calendar syncing, helping creative professionals stay organized and focused on delivering top-notch service.

Pros

• Online payment integration capabilities

• Customizable templates for proposals, contracts, and invoices

• Simple, competitive pricing structure

Cons

• Limited industry scope—built mainly for creative professionals

• Lacks advanced features for complex client relationships

• Limited reporting capabilities

Pricing

• Starter: $8/month (when billed annually)

• Essentials: $16/month (when billed annually)

• Premium: $33/month (when billed annually)

3. Keap

Keap, formerly known as Infusionsoft, is a robust client management software made to assist small businesses and entrepreneurs in automating their sales, marketing, and customer relationship management processes. Keap offers a wide array of features that help users manage contacts, automate marketing campaigns, and streamline sales operations. Its contact management system allows businesses to store and organize client information, track interactions, and segment contacts based on various criteria, enabling targeted marketing efforts.

One of Keap’s most notable features is its marketing automation capabilities. Users can create and schedule personalized email campaigns, set up automated follow-up sequences, and track campaign performance. Keap also offers a visual campaign builder, making it accessible to users without extensive technical knowledge. Furthermore, Keap integrates with e-commerce platforms, enabling businesses to manage online sales and track customer behavior effectively.

Pros

• Extensive contact management features

• Robust sales automation

• Seamless email marketing integration

Cons 

• Complex pricing structure based on contact limits, number of users, and chosen features

• Limited customization

• Advanced automation capabilities may lead to a long learning curve

Pricing

• Pro: $159/2 users/month with a limit of 1500 contacts

• Additional users can be added for $29/user

• Max: $229/3 users/month with a limit of 2500 contacts

• Additional users can be added for $29/user

• Ultimate: $279/3 users/month with a limit of 2500 contacts

• Additional users can be added for $29/user

4. ClickUp

ClickUp is a versatile client management system designed to help teams and businesses streamline their work processes and enhance client relationships. While it is primarily known as a project management tool, ClickUp's flexibility allows users to adapt it for effective client management as well. It offers a unified platform where users can create tasks, set deadlines, and assign responsibilities, making it easy to manage client-related projects and collaborations.

One of ClickUp's key strengths is its customizable features and integrations. Users can create custom task lists, fields, and statuses tailored to their specific client management needs. This adaptability extends to client communication as well, with the ability to integrate email, chat, and third-party apps like Slack and Google Workspace, enabling seamless client communication and collaboration. ClickUp also provides a wide range of reporting and analytics tools, allowing businesses to track project progress, client interactions, and overall team performance.

Pros

• Flexible project management tools

• Robust customization capabilities

• Wide array of integration options with third-party apps

Cons

• May be overly complex for businesses with simpler client management needs

• Can be resource-intensive to implement and maintain

• Users have reported difficulty integrating some third-party apps

Pricing

• Free: Best for personal use

• Unlimited: $7/user/month

• Business: $12/user/month

• Enterprise: Contact ClickUp for details

5. Nimble

Nimble is a client management system that specializes in relationship management and social CRM (Customer Relationship Management). It is designed to help businesses build and nurture meaningful connections with their clients and prospects. Nimble excels in gathering and organizing contact information from various sources, such as social media profiles and email communication, to provide users with a comprehensive view of their client's online presence and interactions.

Nimble is best known for its ability to provide social insights about clients. By aggregating data from platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook, Nimble equips users with valuable information about their clients' interests and activities, facilitating more personalized and engaging interactions. Additionally, Nimble offers integrations with popular email services, allowing users to manage client communication directly within the platform. 

Pros

• Provides insights derived clients from social media

• Simple pricing structure

• Seamless integration with various email clients

Cons

• Limited industry focus—designed primarily for sales and marketing

• Limited advanced features

• Some users have reported mobile app performance issues

Pricing

• $24.90/user/month (when billed annually)

6. Nutshell

Nutshell is a client management system made for small to medium-sized businesses. It offers a range of features that help businesses manage their clients and sales processes efficiently. Nutshell provides a centralized platform for contact management, allowing users to store and organize client information, track interactions, and set reminders for follow-ups.

One of Nutshell's key strengths is its sales automation capabilities. It enables users to create and automate sales workflows, manage leads and opportunities, and track sales team performance. Nutshell also offers email integration, helping businesses manage client communication seamlessly within the platform. Additionally, Nutshell provides reporting and analytics tools to help businesses gain insights into their pipeline, forecast growth, and optimize their processes.

Pros

• Intuitive interface

• Extensive sales automation

• Mobile accessibility

Cons

• Limited customization capabilities

• Limited reporting and analytics capabilities

• Steep learning curve for advanced features

Pricing

• Foundation: $16/user/month

• Pro: $42/user/month

• Power AI: $52/user/month

• Enterprise: $67/user/month

7. Jotform

Jotform is an online form builder that can also be effectively used as a client management system, particularly for businesses seeking a streamlined approach to collecting and managing client information. While it's primarily known for creating custom forms, Jotform offers features that are valuable for client management. Users can design forms to capture client details, inquiries, and feedback, which can then be automatically stored and organized within Jotform.

One of Jotform's strengths lies in its ease of use and customization. Users can create forms tailored to their specific client information needs, whether it's for contact details, appointment scheduling, surveys, or client feedback. The platform also supports integrations with other software tools, enabling businesses to connect Jotform with their existing systems.

Pros

• Highly customizable forms

• Cost-effective

• Extensive integration capabilities

Cons

• Limited CRM features

• Scalability constraints

• Limited workflow automation

Pricing

• Starter: Free/1 user with a limit of 5 forms

• Bronze: $34/1 user/month with a limit of 25 forms

• Silver: $39/1 user/month with a limit of 50 forms

• Gold: $99/1 user/month with a limit of 100 forms

• Enterprise: Contact Jotform for custom pricing

8. Lucrativ

Lucrativ is a client management system that focuses on sales automation and CRM to boost sales team efficiency and improve client interactions. It provides features designed to help businesses streamline their sales processes and enhance client engagement. Lucrativ's contact management system allows users to store, organize, and access client information, including communication history and relevant documents.

One of Lucrativ's standout features is its visual workflow builder, empowering users to create customized sales processes tailored to their specific needs. Lucrativ also provides email integration, allowing for seamless client communication and lead nurturing.

Pros

• Robust sales and workflow automation

• Seamless email marketing integration

• Extensive sales performance tracking capabilities

Cons

• Can be challenging to integrate third-party apps

• Resource-intensive implementation and maintenance

• Some users have reported mobile app performance issues

Pricing

• Businesses are required to contact Lucrativ for pricing details

Freshsales for client management

Freshsales is an intuitive and user-friendly customer relationship management tool that simplifies your client management needs by organizing all their information in one space. It is not limited to just contact information and social media profiles. You get the entire conversation history, deal information, and more with just a scroll.

What can you do with Freshsales?

Know your customers inside out

Main information about your customers quickly with Freshsales client management software. It gives you a 360-degree view of every client by

• Providing a quick summary of all the basic information about your client, such as name, company, contact information, and salesperson assigned.

• Automatically enriching the details of your clients and giving highlights such as open deals, active support tickets, upcoming tasks, meeting notes, etc.

Laying down detailed information such as a chronological timeline of client engagements you’ve had with them over email, phone, and chat.

 Focus on the right clients with Freddy AI

Win more sales by focusing on the right clients who are interested in your business. Freddy, the AI-powered assistant in Freshsales, prioritizes and ranks your clients based on their activities and previous engagement with your business. 

So, every time a client engages with your business — opens your email or visits your campaign landing page, etc. — their contact score and rank increase. Freddy also gives you insight into the factors that contributed to t     the contact score and suggests the next best steps. This enables you to understand their interest level and engage with them in contextual conversations.

Learn more about AI in client management

Manage your interactions

Have contextual conversations with your clients by understanding their interaction with your business. Freshsales organizes all these interactions alongside their basic information. The customer management software pulls together:

• Entire conversation history with the clients through phone, email, chat, SMS, etc.

• Notes and insights that are taken by the sales team during meetings with the client

• Upcoming tasks and appointments related to the customer

• All the files that are shared with the clients through email

 Communicate with just one tool

Freshsales is an all-in-one contact management software that centralizes your touchpoints in a single window. This means you don’t have to jump across tools to close deals. It brings together the three most used communication channels—phone, email, and chat. You can:

• Make calls from within the system and automatically record and log calls. You can also route calls to the respective sales or customer support teams

• Connect Freshsales with your email client, such as Gmail or Outlook, using the 2-way sync. Send and receive emails within the CRM system and get real-time notifications when your contacts open or click on a link on your email

• Use chatbots to quickly engage with your website visitors when they are interested and reduce the bounce-off rate

Check out sales engagement to know more

Strengthen engagement with personalization

By integrating Freshsales with a marketing automation software such as Freshmarketer, your sales and marketing teams gain visibility into each other's activities. It acts as a single source of truth, enabling you to personalize your client relationships. You can:

• Segment your ever-growing client list based on demography, geography, industry, and behavior

• Power your email marketing efforts by choosing from a vast collection of design-rich email templates

• View client engagement with marketing resources such as case studies, ebooks, etc.

• Close the circle between marketing and sales by sending the qualified clients and accounts directly to the right sales team from within the CRM

Learn more about CRM software for sales and marketing

Reduce manual data entry

Besides the fact that you can manage up-to-date records of your clients without breaking a sweat, you can also do away with manual data entry. Freshsales lets you:

• Import and export customer data and business details from spreadsheets

• Migrate data from other client management software effortlessly

• Automatically capture and save clients’ information who get in touch with you via email, chat, and web forms

• Assign the right salespeople based on territory like clock-work

• Reduce manual dependency by automating key business processes with intelligent workflows

You can also choose from pre-set workflow templates and reduce your manual tasks.

Tailor for your needs

Take your customer management system one step further by customizing it for your needs. With Freshsales, you can:  

• Customize the contact and accounts details page to highlight and summarize the fields that are important for your business

• Create data fields and drag-and-drop them to structure the form so it fits your unique business needs

• Mark fields as “Required.” and you gather all the client information that is important to your business

• Create custom filters that fetch client details by last contacted time, activity type, and more. Save these filters to access them any time and also share them with your team

• Sort clients easily using custom tags that uniquely identify them

Automate your follow-up

Personalize your outbound campaigns and start meaningful conversations with your customers using sales sequences in Freshsales. Sales sequences let you:

• Send emails and schedule follow-up emails based on activity or time-based triggers

• Track how your emails are performing and create the perfect outreach for your audience

• Select from a list of email templates, set up email delivery timelines, and create a killer first impression.

Learn more about sales sequences

More than just a client management software

Freshsales goes beyond just a web-based customer management software and empowers you to:

• Streamline deals by associating every contact with their corresponding deals and keeping all the information in one place

• Create your sales plan based on data-backed reports on your sales pipeline and your sales teams’ performances

• Automate mundane tasks like sending out welcome and thank you emails, scheduling recurring appointments and tasks, generating invoices, and more

• Sell on the go with Freshsales mobile app

Learn more about reports